SITES IN THE NEWS

Painkillers

April 18, 2005

Earlier this month, regulators in the United States and
Europe asked pharmaceutical company Pfizer to withdraw
its prescription pain reliever Bextra, saying it could
do more harm than good compared with other drugs. Bextra
is the latest prescription painkiller in a class known as
Cox-2 inhibitors to be withdrawn from the market.

Merck & Co. voluntarily withdrew Vioxx in September.
Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
http://www.fda.gov/cder/

The FDA agency wants users of Motrin, Aleve, Celebrex and
other painkillers to be given more information about their
risks, such as heart attacks or ulcers.

Pfizer Inc.
http://www.pfizer.com/main.html

The drug maker offers information pages on each of its
products, from prescription Celebrex to over-the-counter
Sudafed and Visine.  There's also a search function to
find information on medicines by disease.

Public Citizen
http://www.citizen.org/
The advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader faulted the FDA
for not going far enough. It wants the FDA to take Pfizer's
Celebrex off the market as well. Celebrex was Pfizer's No.
3-selling drug, with $2.78 billion in sales last year.